Brigadier Neville Malila says that police had learned on the same day that
detective Hilton Botha appeared in court to oppose Oscar Pistorius' bail
application, that the charges against the officer had been reinstated by the
Director of Public Prosecutions.

Police spokesman Brigadier Malila said veteran detective Hilton Botha - who gave testimony in the Pistorius bail hearing on Wednesday - was scheduled to appear in court in May on seven counts of attempted murder related to an incident in October 2011 when Botha and two other police officers fired at a minibus they were trying to stop.

He said that police had learned on Wednesday, the same day that Botha appeared in court to oppose Pistorius' bail application, that the charges against Botha and the two others had been reinstated by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

They were initially dropped following the shooting incident.

Brigadier Malila said: "Obviously there will be questions around the timing of this. It's in the middle of the bail hearing and we, as I said, we only received that information late yesterday afternoon."

Prosecutors said they were unaware of the charges against Mr Botha when they put him on the stand in court to explain why Pistorius should not be given bail in the Valentine's Day shooting death of his girlfriend.

Also on Thursday, sports giant Nike announced it had suspended its contract with Pistorius.